Plea to trim Kochi port pools' staff strength

Our Bureau

KOCHI, Dec. 19

THE Cochin Steamer Agents Association has called upon the port authorities to implement a viable scheme to reduce the strength of workers in various pools of the port, in view of the heavy financial burden cast on the shippers and the trade by the increasingly high cost of running pools.

The steamer agents were willing to introduce a reasonable VRS in this regard and had sought the support of the port management to come out with a feasible scheme so as to reduce the strength of workers in all the pools, the association President, Mr M.K.M. Nair, said while addressing the 23rd annual general meeting here on Wednesday.

He said these pools have been formed at the instance of the port authorities which are then influenced by the trade unions. Considering the future of the port, it was a matter of serious concern to be dealt with, he added.

According to Mr Nair, the increased cost in cargo handling at Kochi was driving away a sizeable volume from the hinterlands to the neighbouring ports such as Tuticorin and New Mangalore which was a matter of serious concern to the port, workers and other trading communities.

The Kochi Port was lagging behind in development works compared to other major ports and the threat from Tuticorin Port was increasingly high due to its emergence as a mainline vessel calling port in the South. Taking into consideration of all these aspects, the port authorities should take some serious steps for the overall development of the region, he said.

Mr Nair also called upon the Shipping Ministry for the early clearance of the Vallarpadam Container Transhipment Terminal Project, which has been hanging fire for over 20 years. All the previous governments of Kerala and the trade have been unable to bag this project due to lack of interest and insufficient lobby work.

It was high time that this project is revived and brought back to Kochi as this task was most essential and imperative to ensure the survival of Kochi Port in the long run, he said.

Regarding the overall shipping scenario in the country, Mr Nair said India presented a `not-so-rosy' picture of low port productivity and high charges. The cost of ports in vessel related and cargo related activities in the country were one of the highest in the world. In order to improve the sector, the Government should take immediate steps to bring down various charges in port related activities.

Without any stern steps, India's dream to set up a mother port would remain just a dream, he said adding, that all foreign hub ports were competing with each other by slashing the port charges in order to attract more and more cargo and shipping lines.

He also demanded the Government to implement tonnage tax instead of the present tax structure of levying income tax on the income of the Indian shipping companies for promoting the shipping industry. Nearly 90 per cent of the world's shipping tonnage is free of corporate income tax whereas Indian shipping companies have to pay a corporate income tax ranging from 23 to 34.5 per cent including surcharges. The policy of the Ministry would not encourage the shipping industry to grow and there was an acute lack of infrastructure to support it, he said.